Author's Note

This chapter was revised for you by Koekelbag.

goodbye trees

Light slowly scaled the castle walls as the sun rose, replacing the darkness that stilled the air, and filling it with a wild sensation of warmth. Falling through windows, covering the newly exposed insides of the forgotten castle, slowly encroaching on the territory of the roof, and laying on the sleeping body of Max. Who, due to being induced to his daily dosage of trauma was currently asleep.

Fog crawled its way into the abandoned castle of the most powerful leader on the planet, falling into the cracks of the stone, down to the exposed dungeons of the underground, rising to the broken windows that used to be a sign of political power. Invading the lungs of the human called Max, creating an itching in the man's lungs causing him to slowly rise from trauma induced sleep.

Ughhh- Was the sound Max made as he woke up, feeling like shit.

Max survived the fall. Miraculously, he didn’t suffer from any broken bones. They just felt that way, and would continue to feel that way for quite a while. The fall was ‘softened’ with his first impact to the roof, it halted his first session with gravity, and tapped in the second to take its place. Though despite the cheers ushering on session two, it simply could not hold up to the pressure, and did not succeed in killing, or even harming Max.

Max attempted to sit up and take a look around the room, with small bits of rubble surrounding him, and under him.

But while Max dealt with his situation, a group of friends headed towards the castle, all merrily chirping their own tunes of friendship..

________________________________

“Are we there yet? Now? Now? I'm sooo excited - now?” Pinkie asked, bouncing above the heads of her friends, cutting through the air in a manner that should be impossible. Her bouncing leaving two inch imprints on the ground when she lands.

“No Pinkie, and we won’t be there for a while!” said an irritated Rainbow Dash in her scratchy voice, lazily flapping slightly above the ground “just calm down, we are just going so we can see who’s the toughest pony! I'm gonna pick up the biggest and heaviest rock, from the walls!”

Rainbow Dash puffed her chest, flying forward with an unbeatable confidence.

“Called rubble hun, an we'll see ‘bout that, might jus’ have ta’ deal with losing on this one.” Applejack said, walking to meet up with Rainbow Dash. Not nearly the amount of ego flowing out of her when compared to Dash.

“It's not a competition, we are there to fix up the castle, not play around with the remnants of it. Plus, think of the books! I bet there are spells in there that could let me lift the whole castle!” Twilight said, her excitement almost on par with Pinkie’s, the thoughts of ancient knowledge causing her mind to loop in circles.

“I agree with Twilight - that is, we are here to fix it… if that's what you would like to do… ,“ Fluttershy whispered, softly treading behind the group, her voice only being heard because of the dead silence of the forest “oh no, I didn’t mean to seem to pick favorites.please don’t fight I di-”

“It’s okay Fluttershy! We’re all friends, it’s just a competition! After we get back I should start planning for a party! NO! I should plan now!” Pinkie shouted, seeming to jump well above the seemingly impenetrable canopy.

“Oh my, will you dears please quiet down, you’re giving me a headache” Rarity said.

“Sorry... if that's what you okay with you.”

“Sorry sugarcube”

“SHHHH! We are almost there, I can feel it!” Pinkie Pie said bouncing even higher, getting Rarity to stare at her in mild annoyance. Rarity would have ground her hoof, but that would have gotten her coat dirty.

“Is it because it's right there?” Twilight quipped, to which Pinkie nodded.

The castle sat headstrong, with fog rolling throughout, flowing to the edge of the ravine, reminding the six of their first trip to the castle by sending chills down their spines.Some hardened their resolve, some cowered, and some bounced, and the group of ponies walked towards the bridge post, each readying themselves for the scary trip across.

“Alright girls, I'm going to hold the bridge still with my magic, as you all cross. And remember to just stare at the back of Applejack, Fluttershy, don’t look down.” Twilight told the group.

“Okay… are you sure this is safe? It just looks so scary… why don’t I just wait here? Please?” Fluttershy quickly and quietly said.

“It’s okay Fluttershy you got this! Just hop skip and jump! Just don’t jump!” Pinkie said.

“...That doesn’t help”

Twilight carried her friends across the ravine one by one, each of them holding their eyes shut out of fear, her horn lighting up as she picked her friends in a firm telekinetic embrace. The glow around her horn flowed like a mix of lightning and water, power coursing through it and manipulating the world around her.

Sweat dropped from Twilights brow, as she recovered from the slight exertion

“Ready to get carried across?” Rainbow’s scratchy voice asked the faint unicorn, her face showing concern for her friend.

“Yes, just give me a few seconds”

___________________________________

I was in the library, and noticed that the roof was severely damaged, light pouring through the new opening created by my fall.

Remembering the layout of the discovered castle, I stumbled across the room, towards the door leading to a hallway. Once I got to the door I forced it open with my already sore back, groaning in pain as stinging returned to my back. Small bits of flaked rust falling onto my shoulders and head.

-ybe...e...ould...ook...ov...hea… whisper like voices traveled down the hall making me stop in my tracks, the light coming through the walls illuminating the hallway, to which there was nobody to see.

Fog still covering the floor flowed around my legs as I rushed towards the end door, leading to the throne room. The sliver from the door becoming more and more clear as I neared.

The voices became clearer, I thought I could make out four distinguished voices. We shoul… ontinue… ay… may...nd...library.

Shit, the library, I was just in there, I don’t think I want people to find me here. I looked around in a frantic, noticing the cutouts in the wall, similar to the ones that held doors. Rushing over I hid behind the second one in the row behind a tapestry, two away from the library. I would wait for the voices to pass me, but since I couldn’t see anything I would have to rely on sound alone.

Fear emigrated from my chest, to my brain, to my legs. It made me think of all the things that could go wrong, coming up with conspiracies as well. I could get shot, get enslaved! I could- iIm not on earth though, I remember that castle, those creatures! They might not have guns here, especially due to the castle I saw.

Let's go down this hall girls, I can practically feel the book’s presence...What! You can feel stuff through walls too?! No… wait, you can feel stuff through walls? That would explain so much!... No silly! I was just trying to make you feel better.

Feel stuff through walls? A bunch of druggy explorers? How did they make it across the bridge without falling? Thoughts ran through my head, blurring out background noise, feelings across my body numbed, and I thought of nothing but how badly this could go. What felt like hours passed, until I realized what I was doing and forced myself to listen for voices.

Oooh! The library! So much knowledge... is in here!... Thousands of years old!

I nearly jumped when the voices came from the opposite direction than before. They must have passed!

I quickly pushed the cloth off my body and rushed out the hallway door. Into the brightly lit throne room, torches on the walls lit. I ignored my surrounding and sprinted towards the door. Pain coursed through my back as I slammed into the door, pushing it open and running out to the right of the castle in hopes to find a bridge.

_______________________________

“Hey Twilight did you hear that noise? I bet it was a super scary ghost!”

“No Pinkie, it’s just the door openi... Girls, I think we might not be alone here!”

“It could jus’ be some critter.”

“I don’t think so AppleJack, those doors were reaaaaalllly heavy!”

One by one eyes widened, ears laid back and the group then proceeded to erupt into chaos, Rarity and Fluttershy passed out, while the rest of the group started to run around.

______________________________

The sun stabbed its rays on the canopy of the dark forest, shadows withering at the touch. Leaves soaking up the light, so they can further serve a purpose counteractive to it, natural smells poured their way into the nose of Max as he walked, him coming to the conclusion and questions of multiple things.

First, I’m not on earth. Second, They speak english. Third, narcotics are presumably easily accessible here, one of the voices sounded too happy, and another as if they smoked a ton.

But what would the forest be if not graced with the echoing thoughts of Max. This forest is a piece of shit, fuck that tree, fuck that sound, fuck me, that last one wouldn’t be bad really, unless it’s a guy. The pushed down marine resurfaced, reforging itself into Max’s thoughts.

Despite the Corp’s code of living being Hurry the hell up and wait, Max was tiring fast, his injuries adding the insults themselves as he dropped on the side of a tree. The tree pushed and scratched at his back, causing a few miniscule wounds on his back. He let breath after breath out, attempting to relax as bark ground itself on his shirt and in his hair.

It wasn’t long before an inescapable fog pooled into the lungs and eyes of Max, practically forcing him to sleep.

___________________________________________

When I awoke my vision was blurry, and my breathing quickened for a second before I blinked the blur away. The forest enveloped me in a bluish light, the fog seemed to die off, and a morning dew coated every visible edge. Stiffness braced itself along my muscles, mostly my back. Turning my head side to side I stretched while looking around, I noticed that there was an open clearing off to the side, filled to the brim with thorny weeds. Thinking it could be useful for telling the time I stood up and stretched for a second.

Walking over, I decided that the pain was worth seeing what the time of day it was. I pushed through the weeds, their thorns slightly piercing my skin, causing a little bit of blood to draw itself out. But I looked up and noticed that the sun was either setting or rising, but because I had passed out at sundown after running so long in the forest I was fairly sure that it was sunrise. Walking out of the brush I went on my way, continuing the direction I went before. Using trees as supports for the first little while of my march, the bark biting into my hands and giving me splinters and blisters.

After a few hours, the sun rose up and once again attempted to pierce the canopy of the forest but to no avail. The hours of marching coming to an end as I had come to the closing edge of the ravine, it had seemed to stretch for miles, must have been one hell of an earthquake. Might have even been a moat at one point, that slowly eroded into a ravine.

My best of luck would be to travel to one of the closer towns I had seen, get some help, food and water there. The last meal I've had was two days ago, thank the lazy civilian life for the bits of fat I gained, I could easily last another few days without food. Water is an extremely needed item though, my throat has been scratchy for the whole time I've been here, though adrenaline has kept my mind off of it. Walking has worn off every single bit of it though, which has left me with a deadly case of bored annoyance. But, thoughts came back to ask idiotic questions and rid me of my boredom.

I think I'm not on earth, but I know at least some of the residents speak english, are the inhabitants even human? maybe. Do I deserve this second chance? yes. Is this even a second chance? Probably not. Is this train of thought any good? no. Are there shitty fast food chains here? Most likely. What's the government like? Most definitely a shithole which I will be forced to create viva la revolucion. Is there a government? If not I will make a dictatorship or introduce myself as george washington. Can I have sex with the inhabitan- NO! BAD MARINE BAD! FUCKOFF! Can I become a top notch scientist with my knowledge of the world? nope. Can I rip off all of the artist from my world? Why the hell not.

After my utterly useless rant, I took a look of my surroundings once more, trees behind me, to the left of me, to the right as well, but I noticed one very important thing, The trees up ahead seemed to end, light streaking its way through the gaps between trees, heading towards me.

___________________________________________

The treeline to the Everfree forest cut off in a flat line, the forest setting a clear boundary where it was safe, and where you would be hunted. Light shone through the treeline showing the plant life on the edge, inadequately displaying the dangers of the forest. But beyond the light, a solid wall of silence and darkness awaited any foolhardy being to traverse its deadly layers.

Max was coming to the edge of the forest, light blinding his unadjusted eyes. Each step he took towards the edge shook his mind into a frayed state, the real aspect of the position that he was in hitting his mind at that moment. He gripped a tree and leaned into it, breathing heavy and closing his eyes as his vision clouded black. Tension in his head grew until, all of a sudden, it snapped, and the pressure and shock of the situation left his mind.

Wherever, I am is where I am, no reason to overstress myself on an unfixable situation. he forced himself to act, bracing his emotions against a wall of experience. Standing back up to his full height, he continued to the end of the forest fearlessly, while shielding his eyes with his scraped, bruised, and blistered hand.

After his eyes adjusted he observed the view, it was a hilled field, flowers, bushes, and a random tree every once and awhile. To the far left there were fields of trees, as soldiers standing tall, seemingly adorned with riped apples along their coats. The farm had a road leading to what looked like an amish town, with a small population. And to the right there was just hills upon hills. No sight of the white castle anywhere.

I think I'll avoid the town for now, but I do see a stream close to that farm, I doubt the owners will miss a few apples. Hopefully that stream is clean too. Would be a forever echoing thought that would run through Max’s head for times to come.